This month's Community Questions brings some of the most diverse – and random – topics to date. We've finally sifted through all the questions posted over on the Seed Discord and answered them in, what is now, the ninth edition of the series...

[Laputa] Qworst: Will there be research programs for communications? Say, to create propaganda in colony?

Mundi: "I can't say for sure whether there will be specific research programs or research trees for communications traits, but we really want to see propaganda popping up in colonies. I'd say propaganda would be focused initially on recruiting more players into a colony – as we've already seen over on the Seed Discord server – or to sway voting.

Another interesting topic is the idea of player-created advertising in-game. Imagine Seedlings making decisions based on the power of Seedling-created consumer marketing, without the players actually making the decision, like purchasing alcohol. That's one of very many potential scenarios with the game being persistent. But, it's still very early days."

[AF] Lênon Kramer: How will direct communication between Seedlings work? Will they have devices for "talking" with far away acquaintances?

M: "Yes! All Seedlings have a neural implant allowing them to communicate with one other from a distance, so through biohacking. That's why they will know if somebody is in danger. However, if they do fall unconscious, they won't be able to communicate."

[AF] Beaub14: How will botting be handled in this game?

M: "Because Seedling mechanics are based on automation, botting will offer minimal advantage. We're already giving players the tools to create their own AI characters, so if you set up their routines correctly, Seedlings will become as efficient as possible.

But what makes Seed different from most MMOs, is that characters have their hierarchy of needs, priorities, and thoughts. This means that your Seedlings just can't mine resources for hours on end, they'll need to fulfill their needs, say if they get hungry or tired. It's going to be extremely difficult to override this mechanic, so we're not too worried about botting."

![AF] Some drunk student Eric: What are your most ambitious dreams and goals you definitely want in the game? No matter the time it takes to get there...

M: "If we manage to build everything in the right order and scale it up correctly, we'll be happy. But for me, the ultimate dream is to have hundreds of players in a single city, with over a million Seedlings running around. Fully fledged sci-fi cities that are very densely populated! Hopefully, this is something we can aim towards with help from the community."

[AF] Czarhollow: Will there be something like family trees? Traits that will be or can be passed down the generations?

M: "Yes to both. We'd love players to understand the history of their family or colony, which makes for meaningful progression – to see where it all began. We haven't started any work on this, but we definitely want to get it in there at some point."

Dylan75015: I would like to know if it will be possible to create a colonial empire?

M: "For sure. To begin with, it will be possible through the meta-game, working with other players from different colonies and cities to organize an empire. Later down the line, we'd want to come up with real tools to build massive empires out of multiple colonies."

![AF] Some drunk student Eric: Do you have a wish to where the overall gameplay leads? Does the Gameplay have an ultimate goal to reach story-wise?

M: "For us, the ultimate goal for communities would be scale and to see how many players can work together, creating new forms and ideas for societies. We'll be creating a lot of progression around that.

We have already written a lot of the game's lore, but we're excited to document what happens when the game goes live, to see the history of this new world being written in real time - players will feel like they're a part of the ongoing narrative."

MarZhill: Will we be able to set up Public holidays/ festivals for our own nations?

M: "That is an excellent idea! Probably in some shape or form. We haven't started working on it though. We might at some point include a calendar for players to be able to schedule events."

Damoclès: Could you produce your own currency for your colony?

M: "When the game launches, most likely not. We will want the game to be live for an extended period before we start looking at those types of mechanics - we will first need to see a simple form of the economy working in action with a lot of players.

But, we have definitely looked into what it means for communities to form their own currencies and we're very interested in that idea. However, we do have to reach a certain scale before it starts to make sense."

[AF] PlasmaPeppers: Will there be a free market?

M: "Yeah, we're building a player-driven market. We see that as one of the main pillars of the game."

AllyJamy: If cities are neglected by players, will they eventually become abandoned and become ruins?

M: "I would imagine that cities that are not maintained or abandoned would slowly become overgrown and turn to ruin. They would also make for interesting locations to discover!"

Jimbobbedyjobob2: Are buildings going to be unit-assets or will there be any procedural generation of buildings?

M: "We're working on the building system right now. It's currently a modular system that allows players to build large scale structures with multiple floors. We're still designing this, but we want players to be able to create incredible structures and let their imagination run wild."

Marianoxdxd: How many languages your game will be available in early beta?

M: "The Alpha and Beta builds will more than likely be in English only. In the meantime, we will have various language channels on the Seed Discord for players to connect."

Astral✔verified: I was wondering if there's an option or link to donate to you guys to help development sometime?

M: "That's very kind of you! Not at the moment, but we're very open to the idea of crowdfunding sometime in the future."

Dylan75015: Is there a possibility in our colony to have poor and wealthy areas?

M: "Yes. I think a lot of the city gameplay will revolve around urbanization and the adaptation to changes in society. There could be a divide between more impoverished and more affluent areas, or a colony might wish to band together to become more prosperous as a whole. This tension could create some interesting player-created stories."

Rirschach: Can you explain a little bit more about the character creator?

M: "Currently, the character creator is only for the visuals elements of your Seedling - hair, eye color, facial features, etc. But, this is just for your first two characters; their offspring will pick up the characteristics of their parents.

Each Seedling will have a variety of traits and skills to begin with, but the majority will develop during their lifespan."

DerVerrater: With recent industry news based around the amount of crunch time and working conditions within game development what steps or culture has Klang fostered around the concepts of office culture, overtime and crunch period work?

M: "We are extremely low crunch-focused. We try to offer full transparency when we're approaching a deadline, with overtime being optional. It's important to keep high levels of morale at all times, with employee health being at the forefront, regardless of deadlines."

A big thank you goes out to those who posed us questions! Is there something you want to ask us about Seed? Be sure to let us know in the comments below or join the Seed Discord server and post your questions there!